Millennials vs Gen Z Beauty: what has really changed?

I started wearing make-up when YouTube tutorials were our beauty advisors and copying Kim Kardashian's contouring felt like the only way to enhance your features. Those were the years of ultra-thin eyebrows first, followed by sharply sculpted "seagull wing" brows. Every season seemed to come with a new rule: foundation had to cover everything, concealer had to brighten, and bronzer had to carve out your face. Rather than enhancing what we already had, we were constantly trying to fix something. Then Gen Z arrived, and from the outside at least, they seemed to have completely changed the conversation. Skin tints instead of foundation, liquid blushes, streamlined skincare, SPF every single day, and one word repeated everywhere: authenticity. For a long time, I thought that was the defining difference. We Millennials chased an ideal of aesthetic perfection, while they had finally learned to embrace themselves. The idea of asking them came almost by accident during one of the many beauty events where journalists and content creators inevitably cross paths. We constantly run into each other at product launches and press days, yet we often remain two parallel worlds that rarely stop to compare perspectives. So I decided to use one of those opportunities to speak with three Gen Z beauty creators: Beatrice Cossu, Simona Floresta, and Giorgy Colella. I wanted to find out whether my perception of their generation was actually accurate. The answer turned out to be far less predictable than I expected.

@itsmontserratzertuche Differences between millennials and gen z #lookcurrent #tiktokover30 #2023trends original sound - Itsmontserratzertuche

From beauty creator to "digital best friend"

The first person I spoke with was Beatrice Cossu, who has 363,000 Instagram followers and 38.6 million TikTok likes. She immediately made me realize that the biggest shift isn't really about make-up, but about how beauty is shared. "Being a beauty creator means sharing all the advice I'd give my real-life friends, but with my digital friends instead," she tells me. It's a definition that perfectly captures Gen Z's relationship with social media. It's no longer just a showcase for curated content but an extension of everyday life. There's another aspect that separates her generation from mine: speed. "Content only lasts a few seconds, and the hype around it lasts even less." While Millennials could follow the same beauty trend for months, today a product can go viral overnight and be replaced by the next obsession just days later. Perhaps that's what truly makes contemporary beauty culture feel so different from the one we grew up with.

@beatriceecossuu
10 curiosità che non sapete di me
suono originale - Bea cossu

TikTok is the new beauty advisor

If Millennials walked into a beauty store after reading a blog review or watching a YouTube tutorial, today's product discovery almost always begins on social media. That's exactly what Simona Floresta, who has 32,000 Instagram followers and 691,000 TikTok likes, tells me. She openly admits how much TikTok influences her beauty choices. "I discover almost everything through social media, and sometimes I even get FOMO over a product." She says she first discovered brands like Merit and Kosas this way. That doesn't mean she buys blindly. "More than once I've bought a viral product only to be disappointed. If it didn't suit my skin or the shade wasn't flattering, I'd give it to a friend or my mum." The platforms change. The algorithms evolve. But that familiar feeling of being convinced you absolutely need the latest viral product, only to realize it wasn't right for you, probably belongs to every generation.

@simonafloresta E tu cosa ne pensi? Hai mai provato i profumi solidi di sol de jainero? #unpopularopionion #profumi #soldejaneiroperfume audio originale - With simoflore

The pursuit of perfection hasn't disappeared

The answer that stayed with me the most came from Giorgy Colella, who has 58,000 Instagram followers and 24 million TikTok likes. I asked whether her generation still feels the need to appear perfect or whether the goal has finally become authenticity. I was expecting a reassuring answer. Instead, she surprised me. "I think my generation still has a strong need to appear and feel perfect. Even though people talk much more about authenticity and self-acceptance today, the obsession with aesthetic perfection is still deeply rooted." It's a reflection that goes far beyond beauty. Giorgy points to the growing popularity of cosmetic procedures among increasingly younger people as one of the clearest signs that the pressure surrounding physical appearance remains incredibly intense. Perhaps we Millennials romanticized Gen Z. We saw lighter make-up, the return of freckles, glowing skin, and minimalist skincare, and assumed that their relationship with their own reflection had changed too. In reality, the aesthetic codes have evolved, but the need to feel good enough hasn't necessarily disappeared.

@giorgycolella #accadeoggi audio originale - giorgycolella

More than beauty, the language has changed

Even the products tell the story of this evolution. For Giorgy, the essentials are fragrance, protective hair oil, and sunscreen, choices that speak more about prevention and self-care than concealment. Beatrice, meanwhile, hopes one trend never makes a comeback: the ultra-thin eyebrows of the early 2000s. And honestly, who could blame her? Every generation has its own beauty trauma. By the end of these conversations, I realized this wasn't really an article about who experiences beauty in a healthier way. We Millennials grew up trying to transform ourselves through make-up. Gen Z grew up telling their stories through social media. We had YouTube. They have TikTok. We waited for our favourite creator to upload a tutorial. They scroll through dozens of videos before they've even had breakfast.

@giuliagrollo1 io e la gen z #genz #generazionez #millennial #skincare #makeup #selfconfidence #makeup #comedy #humor #genzhumor #genzlife original sound - Arina Bloom

The real difference isn't what's inside the beauty bag

I thought I was writing an article about the differences between Millennials and Gen Z. Instead, I ended up writing one about their similarities. The products change. The platforms change. The trends change. But the question remains remarkably familiar: How much of our self-worth do we still place in the reflection staring back at us in the mirror? The real difference isn't what's inside the beauty bag. It's the speed at which the rules keep changing. We Millennials learned to live alongside beauty standards. Gen Z has to learn how to navigate them while those standards are constantly shifting, right before their eyes, on the screen of a smartphone. And despite everything, every generation is still searching for the very same balance: feeling like they're enough without constantly chasing yet another "better" version of themselves.

Millenials